Here are five things to know about the Bottini Fuel fraud settlement, including how to seek restitution.

How do you claim money if you were affected?

The state attorney general's office will contact victims regarding how to handle restitution, according to the office.

However, if the office is unable to locate or contact an individual, the money will be distributed to the state comptroller’s office of unclaimed funds.

From there, victims can contact the office to claim these funds.

To reach the office of unclaimed funds, call 1-800-221-9311.

What penalties did Bottini Fuel face?

The investigation found that Bottini Fuel took $1,171,884 from homeowners and the private sector and $590,887 from government agencies from 2004 to 2016, according to the attorney general's office.

The total amount of $1,762,711 must be paid back along with $1.5 million in damages, for a total of more than $3.2 million.

What was Bottini Fuel's response?

In a statement, Bottini Fuel said: "We regret that mistakes were made resulting in account over-payments not being returned to a small number of customers. All funds have been returned in full to the state and will be available to be reclaimed by customers. We have put safeguards in place to ensure this never happens again and apologize to all customers who were impacted."

Jamie Diaferia, CEO of Infinite Global, a professional services firm working with Bottini Fuel, said these cases were outliers affecting 131 of 40,000 current customers and 0.0004 percent of all company transactions.

Diaferia added that Bottini Fuel returned $7.56 million to customers during the same time period.

Who were the biggest victims?

The biggest victims included Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Organization, which lost $281,630, the Green Haven Correctional Facility, which lost $145,957, Roundout Valley Central School District, which lost $83,044, and Beacon City School District, which lost $10,375.

Several Hudson Valley towns and municipalities will receive restitution as part of the settlement, including Wappinger, Stanford, Dover, Union Vale, Red Hook and Hyde Park.

How was the incident discovered?

For their part in the investigation, the whistleblower will receive $491,358.

Getnick & Getnick highlighted the case as the first whistleblower case in the state that "led to a recovery for individuals," according to a release from the law firm.

Managing Partner Neil Getnick said the case began in 2015 and came to a "relatively quick resolution.

"This case illustrates the unusual strength of New York’s False Claims Act and serves as a guiding example for how this whistleblower law can be used to target scams aimed directly at consumers," he said. "This approach will become increasingly important as mandatory arbitration and class action limitations impede consumer fraud enforcement."